went to Homburg. There they led a
mad life for a whole month, spending ten hours every day at the
gaming-table, feverish, breathless, fighting the bank with marvellous
skill and almost incredible coolness. I have met an old croupier who
recollects them even now. Twice they were on the point of staking their
last thousand-franc-note; and one lucky day they won as much as four
hundred thousand francs. That day, Maxime proposed they should leave
Homburg. Sarah, who kept the money, refused, repeating her favorite
motto, 'All, or nothing.'

"It was nothing. Victory remained, as usual, with, the 'big battalions;'
and one evening the two partners returned to their lodgings, ruined,
penniless, having not even a watch left, and owing the hotel-keeper a
considerable sum of money.

"That evening Maxime spoke of blowing his brains out. Never, on the
contrary, had Sarah been merrier.

"The next morning she dressed very early and went out, saying she had a
plan in her head, and would soon be back.

"But she did not come back; and all that day M. de Brevan, devoured
by anxiety, waited in vain for her return. At five o'clock, however, a
messenger brought him a letter. He opened it; there were three thousand
francs in it, and these words:--

"'When you receive these lines, I shall be far from Homburg. Do not wait
for me. Enclosed is enough to enable you to return to Paris. You shall
see me again when our fortune is made.

"'Sarah.'"

"Maxime was at first overcome with amazement. To be abandoned in this
way! To be thus unceremoniously dismissed, and by Sarah! He could not
recover from it. But anger soon roused him to fury; and at the same time
he was filled with an intense desire to avenge himself. But, in order to
avenge himself, he must first know how to find his faithless ally. What
had become of her? Where had she gone?

"By dint of meditating, and recollecting all he could gather in his
memory, M. de Brevan remembered having seen Sarah two or three times,
since fortune had forsaken them, in close conversation with a tall,
thin gentleman of about forty years, who was in the habit of wandering
through the rooms, and attracted much attention by his huge whiskers,
his stiff carriage, and his wearied expression. No doubt Sarah, being
ruined, had fallen an easy prey to this gentleman, who looked as if he
might be a millionaire.

"Where did he stay? At the Hotel of the Three Kings. Maxime went there
at once. Unfortunately, h